Ally Turns 12!

Ally had her very special 12th birthday this week. At church she is no longer in Primary but now in Young Women’s.  It’s a very exciting time for a girl and she was ready!

She hasn’t had a big party for a few years now and we had been promising her we would do something special for this birthday.  I was willing to pay the money & take the kids somewhere so I wouldn’t have to do too much work being 8 months pregnant but as we thought about options and even drove around town looking at possibilities, nothing seemed too exciting to her.

Then one night we were all watching TV together, one of our favorite shows, Minute To Win It.  I had the thought, what about having a party here at the house where the kids play these fun games.  I sat there for some time before saying anything, trying to decide if I could really take on something like that right now.  Finally I decided just to mention it and see.  She was immediately thrilled with the idea and there was no going back.

L.J. was excited about it too and he helped out with planning, assembling and MC’ing all of the games.  It was a huge help!  All I had to do was gather all of the supplies and take care of the food.  Pizza & cake from Costco – done!  That afternoon my friend Heather offered to come over and help too.  It was wonderful!  We had about 12 kids which definitely filled up our house but everyone had a lot of fun.

If you’ve never seen the show on NBC, it’s worth checking out.  Contestants play these silly games with basic household items for the chance to win a million dollars.  Of course we weren’t giving away any money so the winner of each game won a giant size candy bar.

Rather than post a ton of pictures, I have something different this time.  A lot of the work L.J. is getting right now is in video production.  He decided to borrow a camera from a friend, film the whole party and then make a video.  He could work on his skills and then we’d have something fun to share with everyone.  Here is the video he made.  It's about 3 minutes long and I think it turned out really well.

On her real birthday we gave her a few presents from the family.

One present she had gotten early was her ears pierced.  We had always told her she could do it when she turned 12 if she wanted to.  She talked me into it a little early so she could have them done before school started & before the party.

She also got an electric scooter.

Then later that evening she was "heart attacked" by some of the young women in the ward.  They decorated our entry way then rang the door bell and ran.  It was so cute!

I still can't believe she is 12!  Where did the time go?  It seems like just last year I walked her to school for her first day of Kindergarten and then cried all the way home.

We love you!